Beardstown playground named for Macomb resident

Local Macomb resident Doris (Lewis) Edwards was honored late last month by having a new playground named in her honor at Gard School in Beardstown.

Edwards, now a resident of Macomb, was honored March 28 at a ceremony where the Doris Edwards Playground was formally dedicated. The playground was named in her honor based on her dedicated service to the field of education.

When Edwards retired as an administrator in June 2000, her 61-year career was a record for the longest amount of service, according to the Teacher’s Retirement System of the state of Illinois. It is still a record today.

After retiring, Edwards returned to Gard Elementary and worked into the 2012 academic year as a Title I Aide.

She was also honored at the dedication ceremony with several proclamations from local and State dignitaries. This included March 28, 2014, being declared “Doris Edwards Day” in Beardstown with a key to the city being presented to her. Proclamations honoring her were presented by Beardstown Mayor Steve Patterson, Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Macomb, and Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville.

In addition, she was presented a U.S. flag flown over the National Capital by Barbara Baker, representing the office of U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria.

The children, teachers and administrators of the district also honored her with a musical tribute, a recital of nursery rhymes and a square dance presentation.

She started her teaching career as Miss Lewis in 1939, after having attended Western Illinois State Teachers College for two years.

She started teaching at Lombard, a one room school near Sciota, in McDonough County. She was responsible for teaching grades one through eight and all subjects, which equaled 52 classes at that time. Each day she taught 16 students of varying ages. Duties for a teacher included janitorial work, getting water from an outside well and keeping the stove fired. She even helped students warm their lunches on the heating stove.

From 1942 to 1947, she taught at Muddy Lane, another one room school not far away in northern McDonough County. She again taught multiple grades and handled multiple duties. While teaching, she also worked at completeing her bachelor’s degree in the evenings, on Saturdays and in the summers. She received a bachelor's degree in Education from Western in 1949.

With the closing of country schools and the forming of larger districts, Edwards took a second grade position in Pekin. She taught there five years before moving to Beardstown in 1952. While teaching full-time in Beardstown, she achieved a master’s degree from what today is Western Illinois University.

While in Beardstown, Edwards was perhaps the most versatile employee to date. She has been a teacher and a principle in the district. At times, she did both at the same time. Other times, she was principal at two different elementary schools at the same time.

Edwards has served as a teacher or principal, or both at four of the five elementary schools in the district and she served at both the new and old Washington Elementary schools.

Other elementary schools included Lincoln, Brick and Gard.

Among her other accomplishments are: Founder of the Beardstown Head Start program, Chapter I and II Coordinator and Chapter I Director. She was principal at Brick School when the gymnasium was constructed.

In the community, she is known as one of the founding members of the Beardstown Ladies Investment Club, was a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Association and was a member of Rotary.

Edwards was the daughter of Philip and Anna Lewis of Emmet Township in McDonough County. She was raised on a farm near Spring Lake with her siblings, Helen, Ed, Mary Lewis Williams, John, Bernard, and Joann Lewis Moore. Several of her students from the early years in Lombard and Muddy Lane, are still residents of McDonough County.

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